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ABSTRACT
Traditional and modern medical therapies have relied heavily for ages on medicinal plants. Many people prefer herbal treatments to conventional therapy. Terminalia catappa (T.catappa) displayed biological properties such as diaphoresis, antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and so on. The Gastrointestinal function includes the digestion and absorption of food, including solids and liquids and the provision of a barrier to many potentially harmful ingested substances. The benzodiazepine drug flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), which is provided as a pre-anesthetic and in the treatment of insomnia in over sixty countries is medically prohibited in the United States and other others countries but its effect on the Gastrointestinal tract and the possible ameliorative effect of the Terminalia catappa extract on the gastrointestinal tract pretreated with rohypnol propelled this study. Twenty albino wistar rats were divided in five groups with four rats in each group (I, II, III, IV and V). All the animals were treated orally by intubation for a 21 days period while Group I (control group) were untreated. Group II served as the positive control group and was administered 2000mg/kg of only the extract of T. catappa. Group III served as negative control and was administered 1g/kg of rohypnol. Group IV was administered 1000mg/kg (low dose) of T.catappa extract and 1mg/kg of rohypnol simultaneously and Group V was administered 1mg/kg of rohypnol, followed by 2000 mg/kg (high dose) of a T.catappa leave extract for a 21 days period. On the 22nd day, all the animals were weighed, anaesthetized with chloroform and sacrificed by fenestration. The stomach weight, weight change, organo-somatic index, initial and final body weight with the histopathological were assessed. The data generated was analyzed using statistical software SPSS version 20 (Statistical package for social science). Results show that there was a statistically significant increase (p<0.05) in final body weight of rats in group C and D when compared with the initial weight of rats in group C and D. The stomach weight, weight change, organosomatic index showed no statistically significant increase (p<0.05) across all groups as compared with control. This study reveals that rohypnol administered in Group III were seen with severe adverse histological effects on the Gastrointestinal Tract. Group II and IV were normal when compared with the control groups and Group V had the oesophagus still inflamed which could be as a result of increased in dosage or the duration of administration. In conclusion, T.catappa has certain phytochemicals that were able to display its ameliorative effects on rohypnol and counteract it effect on the gastrointestinal tract.
